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'Star Trek: Picard' Season 3 teases union of 'Voyager,' 'Deep Space Nine,' and 'TNG' casts
It's a mixing of the Trek casts in Star Trek: Picard Season 3.
If you're a fan of '90s-era Star Trek, then Feb. 16 is going to be your most chocolate-meets-peanut-butter day ever, because Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard is openly celebrating that the finale season is essentially a uniting of casts from Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sir Patrick Stewart returns to play Admiral Jean-Luc Picard and welcomes the return of Trek favorites LeVar Burton (Geordie La Forge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Jonathan Frakes (Captain Riker), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Data/Soong/Lore), and Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine).
At today's Television Critics Association winter press tour panel for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 (attended by SYFY WIRE), Stewart, Dorn, McFadden, Ryan, and Michelle Hurd (Rafaella "Raffi" Musiker) joined showrunner/EP Terry Matalas (12 Monkeys) and executive producer Alex Kurtzman to tease a few new tidbits about what is being touted as the final season of the series. They also revealed the new one-sheet for the season:
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Matalas, who first joined the Trek-verse as a production assistant on Voyager, told reporters that this season was used as an opportunity to celebrate Picard's character, his circle of friends, and to see how they've all grown into their mature years. “How better to end that journey than to look back at the beginning and bring his friends and family from Star Trek: The Next Generation?” the showrunner said.
Other characters reportedly returning from TNG days will be Denise Crosby's Tasha Yar and Daniel Davis reprising his role as hologram Professor Moriarty. Matalas confessed, "The Moriarty storyline was a big influence on me when I was younger...and he’s just as good as he was back then." He added they "in no way" had to twist Davis' arm to get him to reprise his role as Moriarty.
Asked about returning to the Picard character for what's ended up being an unexpected three season run, Stewart said, "I have lived nearly 35 years since I have put on the captain's uniform. I wanted the series to show the impact of those years that have passed and how much one might change, and whether fears become greater or less."
McFadden praised the team for writing a fresh story for Dr. Crusher that even includes some action sequences. “I love kicking ass, first of all," she said. "I always wanted to do more action." She added that this Crusher feels more like the character as created by Gene Roddenberry. "There's a much bigger range this season."
Dorn shared that he had robust conversations with the executive producers about where Worf has been prior to when audiences see him again in this season. "Worf has always been searching through TNG and DS9 for who he is. That's something we wanted to bring to this series." Plus, we get Worf as a silver fox hair, which the actor said his ego initally balked at, but he eventually came around to it.
"You have to take a risk. You have to trust the people," Dorn said about his happiness with Worf's arc this season.
Asked if this is really going to be the end of this series, Stewart hedged saying any definitive words and just offered that there are several doors left open in the season, so "who knows one day."
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 debuts Feb. 16 on Paramount+.
Looking for more space adventures? Check out SYFY's Battlestar Galactica streaming now on Peacock, and keep an eye in the sky for SYFY's new original series The Ark, coming this February.
